Another victim killed in Wednesday's horrific attack at Fort Hood has been identified and his fiancée described how the soldier died protecting others.

Sgt. First Class Danny Ferguson, a movement specialist from Tampa Bay, Florida, had just returned from Afghanistan when 34-year-old Ivan Lopez snapped and opened fire Wednesday afternoon.

Ferguson's fiancée, Kristen Haley, who is also a soldier at the Texas base and was nearby when the shooting began, said Danny sacrificed his life blocking a door to keep the gunman out of a packed room of military personnel, where he could have killed scores more people.

'He held that door shut because it wouldn't lock. It seems the doors would be bullet proof, but apparently they're not,' Haley told News 10. 'If he wasn't the one standing there holding those doors closed, that shooter would have been able to get through and shoot everyone else.'

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Life cut short: Sgt. First Class Danny Ferguson, pictured right with his fiancée, had just returned from Afghanistan when 34-year-old Ivan Lopez snapped and opened fire Wednesday afternoon

Brave: Kristen Haley spoke of how Ferguson, pictured with her left, sacrificed his life to stop the shooter getting into a crowded room. Haley is also a soldier who was nearby when the shooting started

Ferguson was remembered as a great soldier, and a prolific athlete at Mulberry High School where he graduated in 1993.

He joins Sgt. Timothy Owens as two of the three military men Lopez allegedly killed before turning the .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol on himself just after 4p.m.

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Owens' mother, Mary Muntean, 77, of Effingham, Illinois, spoke out about the moment she heard her son was dead, and revealed the news came just days after she had met for the first time a daughter she had given up for adoption 54 years prior.

'She finds one child and loses another,' said Betty Goodwin, Muntean's niece and Owens' cousin, said of the elderly woman.

Sitting on her recliner on Wednesday, Muntean saw news on television of the attack at Fort Hood.

Unable
to reach her son, she called his new wife, Billie Owens, who first said
he was in the hospital. Before long, Owens' wife called back, and
Muntean had her worst fears confirmed.

Shock: Mary Muntean, right, of Effingham, Illinois, said she was still celebrating being reunited with her daughter when she got a call telling her that her son, U.S. Army Sgt. Timothy Owens, left, was killed

'She
said, "Mom, I want to tell you how sorry I am. Tim's gone,"' Muntean
said. 'I broke down. I'm 77 years old and I can't hardly take this.'

Muntean told the AP she has heart
problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

She said she was still celebrating meeting her daughter when Owens was killed. Her 54-year-old
daughter sought her out, she said, and the two met on March 23.

Goodwin said Muntean was told by Owens' wife that he was shot in the chest.

Owens' cousin, Glen Welton of Effingham, said Owens grew up with military dreams.

'He was one of those kids who wanted to wear camouflage and wanted to wear bomber jackets and sunglasses,' said Welton, himself a National Guard veteran of Iraq. 'It took him a few years before he got himself in.'

Recovering: One of the wounded was identified as Maj. Patrick Miller, pictured, a 32-year-old Iraq War veteran from western New York, the state's Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday

Fighter: The family of Patrick Miller, pictured with his wife Ashley, would push through

Owens dropped out of high school in 1995,
according to his mother and school records. She said he earned his GED
diploma after joining the Army in 2004.

Welton said he ran into Owens last year at a funeral and the two figured out they had served in Iraq at the same time. Welton was there from 2005-06.

A photo from that day shows Welton with his arm around Owens, who wore his Army dress uniform, including a beret, and a pair of dark sunglasses.

'He had grown into a man. The military had made him a complete man,' Goodwin said. 'I sure know he cleaned up pretty with his uniform.'

Owens was one of Muntean's four children. A younger son died eight years ago after a lifelong disability, Goodwin said.

Family said Owens had been previously married and had children from that marriage.

Another victim: McComb woman, Renee Powell Westbrook, on Thursday identified her husband, Sgt. Jonathan Westbrook, pictured left and right, as among those shot in Wednesday’s rampage

A trauma center outside the base said the conditions had improved for three people who sustained critical injuries in the attack.

Dr. Matthew Davis, trauma director at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, expressed optimism nobody else would die from their injuries. Several patients were released from the hospital Thursday.

One of the wounded was identified as Maj. Patrick Miller, a 32-year-old Iraq War veteran from western New York, the state's Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

Miller, who lives with his wife outside Austin, Texas, is a native of Allegany in Cattaraugus County.

The soldier's family said Miller was shot in the stomach and underwent surgery Wednesday night.

His mother, Carol, said she was in shock when she heard the news.

'I wanted to sit down all of a sudden. It was like, "Oh my God!"' Carol Miller said.

Shooter: Ivan Lopez, seen in this undated photo, has been identified as the soldier who opened fire on Fort Hood army base on Wednesday killing three and injuring 16 others before turning the gun on himself

Perpetrator: Ivan Lopez, pictured, was born and raised in Puerto Rico and got his start in the military via the Puerto Rico National Guard

In a statement, Cuomo said the shooting has left Miller's home state 'saddened and shocked.'

'On behalf of all New Yorkers, I send my
thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to the injured victims and
their families,' he said.

He said Miller joined the U.S. Army after graduating from St. Bonaventure in 2003.

Major Miller was deployed to Iraq for the first time in March 2004 for a year, which he described on his Facebook page as 'the most difficult and challenging year of my life.'

He was then a second lieutenant and the commander of a platoon of medics that included Specialist Jude Uchendu. 'He worked hard,' said Specialist Uchendu, who left the military in 2009, told the New York Times.

'He was always out there for his soldiers, and a good leader, too.'

Major Miller, who lived in Austin, Texas, with his wife Ashley, had been stationed at Fort Hood since 2004.

Later on Thursday, McComb, Mississippi woman, Renee Powell Westbrook, also identified her husband, Sgt. Jonathan Westbrook, as among those wounded in Wednesday's shooting rampage.

His wife said he was among the soldier recovering from wounds to the chest and neck. She was traveling to be by his bedside Friday.

'He's assured me he’s O.K. but until I get a visual and say "O.K., you're O.K.," he's not O.K.,' she said. 'They train them to downplay things.'

Standard procedure in such shootings means that the next of kin of the deceased are contacted prior to having their names released publicly.